What Is Happening To Our Country?

[Tamesaint]

On 30/01/2023 at 07:33, AlexLaw76 said:

As if we didnt know.  The Services are in a very poor state

https://news.sky.com/story/us-general-warns-british-army-no-longer-top-level-fighting-force-defence-sources-reveal-12798365

Friday Night Dinner cannot be easily surpassed.

"Shit on it" !!!

[badgerx16]

21 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Bingo!!!!

How you spend your afternoons is your business. Still, plenty of Blue Rinsers nostalgic for Maggie to be found there.

Edited 3 February, 2023 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

Taskmaster - not your traditional 'sit com' but still provides some proper laugh out loud moments.

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

I like the Detectorists, Motherland, Fleabag, The Great, This Flag Means Death, Ghosts, Cunk and Have I Got News still delivers as do some of the stand ups at the Apollo, but the golden age of comedy has passed along with music. Political satire does not work so well when the material you are trying to parody goes beyond your ability to send it up. Brandon Flowers asked the question a few years ago, have all the best songs been written? You could ask the same question of the best gags. I don’t know what the BBC thought they were doing with Mrs Brown’s Boys? Perhaps they thought there was still an appetite for the laziest type of 70’s humour but that backfired big time (although I assume that it still managed to find an audience as he still has a job).

As a country we have had the stuffing kicked out of us over the last decade plus. Austerity, Brexit, Covid, Government scandals, a major war in Europe…just constantly one thing after another. Whether the lack of quality creativity in depth in certain fields is just a phase we are going through or whether we are just becoming mediocre at certain things, who knows, but it’s hard to think of people in 50 years time getting all nostalgic over the likes of Harry Styles, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran, Brendan O’Carroll, Michael McIntyre etc.

 

Our grand parents lived through two world wars, the Spanish flu and the Great Depression. You’ve just got an incredibly negative woe is me attitude blaming everyone else for the problems in your life. Nothing was ever fixed sitting on the sofa, get some bollocks and go out and do something about it. Your career as head typist at the CPS might be over but I’m sure you’ve got something to offer someone 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

I like the Detectorists, Motherland, Fleabag, The Great, This Flag Means Death, Ghosts, Cunk and Have I Got News still delivers as do some of the stand ups at the Apollo, but the golden age of comedy has passed along with music. Political satire does not work so well when the material you are trying to parody goes beyond your ability to send it up. Brandon Flowers asked the question a few years ago, have all the best songs been written? You could ask the same question of the best gags. I don’t know what the BBC thought they were doing with Mrs Brown’s Boys? Perhaps they thought there was still an appetite for the laziest type of 70’s humour but that backfired big time (although I assume that it still managed to find an audience as he still has a job).

As a country we have had the stuffing kicked out of us over the last decade plus. Austerity, Brexit, Covid, Government scandals, a major war in Europe…just constantly one thing after another. Whether the lack of quality creativity in depth in certain fields is just a phase we are going through or whether we are just becoming mediocre at certain things, who knows, but it’s hard to think of people in 50 years time getting all nostalgic over the likes of Harry Styles, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran, Brendan O’Carroll, Michael McIntyre etc.

 

Comedy thrives under adversity. If the material put on the main channels doesn't appeal, then it could be problems with their commissioning or the same production companies they frequently use. Or it might just be your personal taste differs. Fortunately, there's loads of comedy venues and online content available for you to find new funny things. The last golden age of comedy had strong roots in radio comedy. Lots of various shows there.

The same with music. I don't catch a lot of new music. But it doesn't take too long on something like 6 music to find something I really like, and listen again to/buy. I get the bonus that, by the time I've heard it, they often have a decent bit of material out, so I get to binge. One very mainstream example in a load of other stations, online platforms and live venues. Again, a lot of lasting music comes through adversity. It always has, and there's no signs it's changing. It might not be in radio 1 play lists. But that doesn't mean it's not around.

The list of horrible recent things are echoes of similar horrible past events. Some on the list have never gone away. I'd disagree that their appearance has led to the end of either music or comedy.

You list 8 that you already like, with some of the Apollo too. That's a decent start. Is there a figure where that becomes a special age of comedy? Would we recognise one, if we were watching it, while at bit of us kept trying to compare it to Fawlty Towers? 🙂

[hypochondriac]

6 hours ago, Plastic said:

 

From the list -

my kids like 'the goes wrong show' & 'ghosts'.

'Detectorists' was great.

Loved 'This Country', It's right up there IMO.

'Inside number 9' isn't really comedy but very good.

'Flowers' / 'afterlife' ok.

One I liked not on the list - 'Here we go' - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13684264/ - was a pleasant surprise.

Not sure how Peep Show is missing. Guess because it started before, but had many series in the last 15 years. Loved it.

Peep show was predominantly earlier in the decade. I think you've sort of proved my point though as most of the best in the last 15 years is simply OK. 

[hypochondriac]

22 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Comedy thrives under adversity. If the material put on the main channels doesn't appeal, then it could be problems with their commissioning or the same production companies they frequently use. Or it might just be your personal taste differs. Fortunately, there's loads of comedy venues and online content available for you to find new funny things. The last golden age of comedy had strong roots in radio comedy. Lots of various shows there.

The same with music. I don't catch a lot of new music. But it doesn't take too long on something like 6 music to find something I really like, and listen again to/buy. I get the bonus that, by the time I've heard it, they often have a decent bit of material out, so I get to binge. One very mainstream example in a load of other stations, online platforms and live venues. Again, a lot of lasting music comes through adversity. It always has, and there's no signs it's changing. It might not be in radio 1 play lists. But that doesn't mean it's not around.

The list of horrible recent things are echoes of similar horrible past events. Some on the list have never gone away. I'd disagree that their appearance has led to the end of either music or comedy.

You list 8 that you already like, with some of the Apollo too. That's a decent start. Is there a figure where that becomes a special age of comedy? Would we recognise one, if we were watching it, while at bit of us kept trying to compare it to Fawlty Towers? 🙂

My favourite UK comedies are: 

Brass eye

The office 

I'm Alan partridge 

Knowing me knowing you 

Fawlty towers 

Monty pythons flying circus 

Peep show 

Father Ted 

Only fools and horses 

Black books 

The royle family 

I've probably missed some but the point is that even the alright stuff nowadays doesn't compare to any of that stuff and it's all from about 20 years ago plus. The quality of TV comedy has taken a real nosedive. 

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

My favourite UK comedies are: 

Brass eye

The office 

I'm Alan partridge 

Knowing me knowing you 

Fawlty towers 

Monty pythons flying circus 

Peep show 

Father Ted 

Only fools and horses 

Black books 

The royle family 

I've probably missed some but the point is that even the alright stuff nowadays doesn't compare to any of that stuff and it's all from about 20 years ago plus. The quality of TV comedy has taken a real nosedive. 

Or you've become more miserable in the last 20 years 🤷‍♂️

[aintforever]

Or old people tend to like old TV programmes?

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Or you've become more miserable in the last 20 years 🤷‍♂️

Maybe. But it will be interesting to see if any comedies from the last two decades will be regarded as absolute classics in the same vein as the ones I've mentioned. They're timeless. 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

My favourite UK comedies are: 

Brass eye

The office 

I'm Alan partridge 

Knowing me knowing you 

Fawlty towers 

Monty pythons flying circus 

Peep show 

Father Ted 

Only fools and horses 

Black books 

The royle family 

I've probably missed some but the point is that even the alright stuff nowadays doesn't compare to any of that stuff and it's all from about 20 years ago plus. The quality of TV comedy has taken a real nosedive. 

Inbetweeners was good films not so much

White gold is funny

8 out of 10 cats I find funny 

have I got news for you 

the problem is that so much has become sanitised and safe, no one allowed to say anything controversial. I mean Jimmy Carr had loads of complaints about his latest stand up, which was Called Jimmy Carr his dark materials. WTF did people expect to find when watching that FFS?

[aintforever]

9 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe. But it will be interesting to see if any comedies from the last two decades will be regarded as absolute classics in the same vein as the ones I've mentioned. They're timeless. 

In your opinion, but do kids nowadays watch a lot of Monty Python’s Flying Circus or Fools and Horses?

[hypochondriac]

24 minutes ago, aintforever said:

In your opinion, but do kids nowadays watch a lot of Monty Python’s Flying Circus or Fools and Horses?

When I watched the pythons at the O2 it was a full house and I saw plenty of children. I accept that some of the ones later on my list would be more popular. 

[Whitey Grandad]

49 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

When I watched the pythons at the O2 it was a full house and I saw plenty of children. I accept that some of the ones later on my list would be more popular. 

My missus was at a recording of one of the early Python shows. It was the one with the native Red Indian chief in the audience eating chocolates. “Heap crunchy”. She was sitting right behind him.

She didn’t have a clue what it was all about before she went.

[Dark Munster]

7 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

My favourite UK comedies are: 

Brass eye

The office 

I'm Alan partridge 

Knowing me knowing you 

Fawlty towers 

Monty pythons flying circus 

Peep show 

Father Ted 

Only fools and horses 

Black books 

The royle family 

I've probably missed some but the point is that even the alright stuff nowadays doesn't compare to any of that stuff and it's all from about 20 years ago plus. The quality of TV comedy has taken a real nosedive. 

Red Dwarf and Spitting Image?

[hypochondriac]

3 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

Red Dwarf and Spitting Image?

Yep I'd add them. I didn't find red dwarf hysterically funny but I did enjoy the show. 

[hypochondriac]

7 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

My missus was at a recording of one of the early Python shows. It was the one with the native Red Indian chief in the audience eating chocolates. “Heap crunchy”. She was sitting right behind him.

She didn’t have a clue what it was all about before she went.

Oblivious to the fact she was witnessing something historic. I wish I was a little older to have appreciated the pythons fully. 

[The Cat]

There's loads of good comedy now. Has anyone watched Everyone Else Burns? Definitely worth a watch.

For a start pretty much anything with Matt Berry in is great, especially What We Do In The Shadows.

Other than those already mentioned above there's shows like Stath Lets Flats, People Just Do Nothing, Dead Pixels, Breeders, There She Goes.

Going back a few years Fresh Meat was hilarious. This Country, IT Crowd, Derry Girls, Black Books, Green Wing, League of Gentlemen, Uncle, Catastrophe etc.

Obviously anything Chris Morris did was genius although he doesn't do much now, and Stewart Lee continues to be the best comedian on the planet.

All of the above make me laugh out loud a lot which has to be the basis of good comedy. Obviously it's all a matter of personal taste though.

[Weston Super Saint]

Exactly.

Comedy is as subjective as music.

Some weirdos don't like Purple Rain for example (Mrs WSS).

[egg]

31 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Exactly.

Comedy is as subjective as music.

Some weirdos don't like Purple Rain for example (Mrs WSS).

That's grounds for divorce mate. 

(Mrs egg is equally uncultured).

[AlexLaw76]

Mrs Browns Boys?

Must be funny, prime time slots on the Auntie, ffs

[hypochondriac]

3 hours ago, The Cat said:

There's loads of good comedy now. Has anyone watched Everyone Else Burns? Definitely worth a watch.

For a start pretty much anything with Matt Berry in is great, especially What We Do In The Shadows.

Other than those already mentioned above there's shows like Stath Lets Flats, People Just Do Nothing, Dead Pixels, Breeders, There She Goes.

Going back a few years Fresh Meat was hilarious. This Country, IT Crowd, Derry Girls, Black Books, Green Wing, League of Gentlemen, Uncle, Catastrophe etc.

Obviously anything Chris Morris did was genius although he doesn't do much now, and Stewart Lee continues to be the best comedian on the planet.

All of the above make me laugh out loud a lot which has to be the basis of good comedy. Obviously it's all a matter of personal taste though.

I do love what we do in the shadows but tbf we were talking about UK comedy. 

[The Cat]

21 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I do love what we do in the shadows but tbf we were talking about UK comedy. 

The cast is pretty much UK and that's what makes it.

[badgerx16]

Quote from a Government Minister; "Liz was mad but right. Rishi is wrong but competent."

[buctootim]

On 04/02/2023 at 14:41, badgerx16 said:

Quote from a Government Minister; "Liz was mad but right. Rishi is wrong but competent."

Just shows a current minister is as big a dogma led fuckwit as Truss.  Even if you believe in the general principle that lower tax and lower spending leads to greater growth, you'd have to be utterly incompetent / recklessly negligent to cut taxes at a time of record budget deficit, massive debt and raging inflation.   

Edited 5 February, 2023 by buctootim

[ecuk268]

On 04/02/2023 at 14:41, badgerx16 said:

Quote from a Government Minister; "Liz was mad but right. Rishi is wrong but competent."

Truss appears to be doing a Nathan Jones.

It was everyone's fault but hers.

The Treasury, the financial markets, the Queen for dying at the wrong time.

Why could nobody see how brilliant she was? 

[badgerx16]

28 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

Truss appears to be doing a Nathan Jones.

It was everyone's fault but hers.

The Treasury, the financial markets, the Queen for dying at the wrong time.

Why could nobody see how brilliant she was? 

The Queen was alive until Truss went to visit her.

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

The Queen was alive until Truss went to visit her.

Exactly. Last photo of the Queen was with Truss .... And who stood up at the 1994 Libdem conference wanting to abolish the monarchy? 🤔🤔

Highly suspicious.😉😉

[Weston Super Saint]

Hot on the heels of Shell from last week....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64544110

Quote

Oil and gas giant BP has seen its annual profits more than double after energy prices surged last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Its profits jumped to $27.7bn (£23bn) in 2022, compared with $12.8bn the year before.

These profits are 'post tax' right?  I mean these British companies are paying their fare share of tax aren't they?

If so, why is the country still broke?

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Hot on the heels of Shell from last week....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64544110

These profits are 'post tax' right?  I mean these British companies are paying their fare share of tax aren't they?

If so, why is the country still broke?

Obscene on every level. Businesses and people going to the wall while these energy companies and their shareholders are profiting at record levels. Shameful that regulators aren't imposing immediate caps linked to wholesale energy prices, and governments not heavily taxing profits. 

[SotonianWill]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Hot on the heels of Shell from last week....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64544110

These profits are 'post tax' right?  I mean these British companies are paying their fare share of tax aren't they?

If so, why is the country still broke?

as they barely even situate in the uk due to the higher taxes, can’t remember exact figures but only about 5% (?) of their profits are made in the uk meaning we barely take in any. they are more likely to be based in and taxed in low taxing areas ofc. 

[SotonianWill]

On 04/02/2023 at 14:41, badgerx16 said:

Quote from a Government Minister; "Liz was mad but right. Rishi is wrong but competent."

Everyone I know who supports Liz Truss, I actively dislike already and they live in la la rich twat land. it’s a good judge of character.

Edited 7 February, 2023 by SotonianWill

[buctootim]

4 hours ago, SotonianWill said:

as they barely even situate in the uk due to the higher taxes, can’t remember exact figures but only about 5% (?) of their profits are made in the uk meaning we barely take in any. they are more likely to be based in and taxed in low taxing areas ofc. 

Many (most?) international companies artificially rebook profits to the country with the lowest tax regime. Which is why so may global giants are supposedly based in the Republic of Ireland. All Shell and many others do is load expenses, 'franchise fees' and 'loss of goodwill' onto their high profit centres to the extent that only £1.59 is left to pay tax on whilst shifting all the revenue streams to somewhere they have a sweetheart deal with. Its a form of 'if you let me be based here whilst I defraud your neighbours I'll give you a cut of the proceeds'. 

Inevitably somebody will trundle along and try to say we should cut corporate taxes to compete - but there is no level playing field in money laundering. Lichtenstein, Ireland, Luxembourg or Monaco will always undercut larger countries because a corporate tax rate of say 2% on Amazon for a population of a million will be far far more per head than 20% for a population of 65 million          

Edited 7 February, 2023 by buctootim

[Weston Super Saint]

An article I read says that both Shell and BP have paid tax in just one tax year since 2015 and even then the numbers aren't huge!

It's criminal how little profits there must be in oil and gas when there isn't a war on.

[badgerx16]

49 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

An article I read says that both Shell and BP have paid tax in just one tax year since 2015 and even then the numbers aren't huge!

It's criminal how little profits there must be in oil and gas when there isn't a war on.

And BP have also said they are reducing their targets for reducing carbon emissions.

[badgerx16]

Took our SiL to Wigan Infirmary this afternoon, as he is still not permitted to drive after breaking his shoulder. We allowed plenty of time to account for traffic. He checked in, had an X-Ray, visited the physio, and was out and back in the car 2 minutes before his actual appointment time.

[Weston Super Saint]

11 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Took our SiL to Wigan Infirmary this afternoon, as he is still not permitted to drive after breaking his shoulder. We allowed plenty of time to account for traffic. He checked in, had an X-Ray, visited the physio, and was out and back in the car 2 minutes before his actual appointment time.

Does that mean that, statistically, Wigan Infirmary are the Best in Europe for 'at least' one early appointment - or that most of the other fuckwits in Wigan are hideously late for their hospital appointments?

[SotonianWill]

Decided to switch on a bit of ‘The Warship Tour of Duty’ on the BBC and my god how far the Royal Navy seems to have fallen, it may be the way it’s edited and the clips they have chosen but still… 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

Decided to switch on a bit of ‘The Warship Tour of Duty’ on the BBC and my god how far the Royal Navy seems to have fallen, it may be the way it’s edited and the clips they have chosen but still… 

What do you expect when Brett from Camden is head chef.

[AlexLaw76]

https://www.ft.com/content/4eb1af29-2491-458c-9f69-e065cba58bbb

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

https://www.ft.com/content/4eb1af29-2491-458c-9f69-e065cba58bbb

Might as well get rid. They cost so much and if they are as hopeless as claimed we could put the money to better use in the NHS.

[Jonnyboy]

On 07/02/2023 at 07:47, egg said:

Obscene on every level. Businesses and people going to the wall while these energy companies and their shareholders are profiting at record levels. Shameful that regulators aren't imposing immediate caps linked to wholesale energy prices, and governments not heavily taxing profits. 

We don't live in a socialist country, and we had our chances in 2017 and 2019.

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, Jonnyboy said:

We don't live in a socialist country, and we had our chances in 2017 and 2019.

Both elections were single issue votes - Brexit or no Brexit. Red or Blue played a secondary role.

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, Jonnyboy said:

We don't live in a socialist country, and we had our chances in 2017 and 2019.

Not in my constituency I didn’t.

[AlexLaw76]

[Weston Super Saint]

10 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Might as well get rid. They cost so much and if they are as hopeless as claimed we could put the money to better use in the NHS.

I thought we were already putting them to use in the NHS?

[SotonianWill]

23 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

 made me chuckle a bit 

 

Edited 13 February, 2023 by SotonianWill

[badgerx16]

Somebody thought this was a good idea to advertise their business

[Weston Super Saint]

Luckily, we're still paying extra for the 'daily standing charge' to compensate BG / Centrica for taking on all those firms that failed, not sure how they are managing to cope financially without our help.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64652142

Quote

British Gas owner Centrica has posted huge profits after energy prices soared last year.

Centrica's full-year profits hit £3.3bn for 2022, more than triple the £948m it made the year before.

Absolutely no way those charges should be re-examined given the huge increase in profits, no sir!

[rallyboy]

"It's okay, I'm doing great, I've just had £15 off my shares!"  - says some smug random paying an extra £1,000 on their own bills.

There's only one overall winner here and it isn't customers, shareholders or even pension funds - unless you never use energy yourself but enjoy profiting from the misery of others.

Tax them properly.